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Posts Tagged ‘HAMP’

Readers Reflect on BofA Mortgage Racket/Lying

Posted by Larry Doyle on June 17th, 2013 8:45 AM |

Would you ever want to do business with an individual or an entity that lied to you? Probably not, right?

Should we add Bank of America to the list of those entities (financial institutions, regulators, our government) that have been less than forthright in engaging those with whom it was saying one thing but doing something entirely different?

A cursory review of the testimony I highlighted this past Friday, Bank America Mortgage Racket: We Were Told to Lie, might give many who read that commentary considerable reason to pause before engaging BofA. (more…)

Bank America Mortgage Racket: We Were Told To Lie

Posted by Larry Doyle on June 14th, 2013 9:02 AM |

Not that we needed any further evidence of the racketeering enterprises run within the mortgage operations on Wall Street, but with the recently delivered testimony of Simone Gordon, a senior collection officer within Bank of America’s mortgage ‘racket’ . . . we got it.

I first questioned whether the activities within the mortgage servicing enterprises on Wall Street rose to the level of racketeering in early 2011 after having becoming aware of Wall Street’s practice of robo-signing mortgage documents in order to engage in the fraudulent conveyance of countless mortgages. (more…)

Housing Double Dip Represents ‘Patient’ Opportunity

Posted by Larry Doyle on June 1st, 2011 9:30 AM |

While various and sundry soothsayers have been touting the relative merits of our housing market for the last few years, I did not have a constructive comment about housing until just six weeks ago when I wrote, Is It Getting Time To Buy a House?. Housing price data released yesterday confirmed that our nations’ housing market has, in fact, suffered a double dip.

Is my positive commentary on housing premature and akin to ‘catching a falling knife’? Why was I negative for so long? Why do I think the bottoming process will be prolonged? What do I see as a compelling reason why homeownership is becoming increasingly attractive? Let’s navigate.

1. Why was I negative for so long? (more…)

12th Street Capital Provides Perspective on the Foreclosure Fiasco

Posted by Larry Doyle on October 22nd, 2010 11:23 AM |

What the hell is truly going on within the entire mortgage foreclosure fiasco? There are seemingly more angles to this mess than there ever were choices of mortgage products themselves. Where can we turn to make some ‘sense’ of this madness? Let’s check in with the crowd on the cutting edge of this sinkhole, that is our friends at 12th Street Capital. Today they write,

Not surprisingly the ones that look to be best positioned during this mortgage foreclosure/put back fiasco are the lawyers. As reported by HousingWire.com late yesterday, “A spokesperson for the New York law firm Quinn, Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan confirmed to HousingWire it has been hired by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, a move some say means the government-sponsored enterprises are going after bad mortgages it bought from originators.” Guess what, the GSEs have ALWAYS pursued repurchases. (more…)

The Real Issues Behind the Foreclosure Crisis

Posted by Larry Doyle on October 13th, 2010 12:32 PM |

What is really going on in regard to the moratorium on mortgage foreclosures? A lot. Not all of it would qualify as the best of “sense on cents.” My thoughts include the following:

1. Can we now declare the HAMP (Making Home Affordable) program to be totally futile? How is it that everybody on Wall Street and in Washington is now promoting that the economy will be harmed if we forestall the mortgage foreclosure process? What the hell have the wizards in Washington been doing via HAMP and through Freddie and Fannie for the last 18 months? The simple fact is our policy makers have done everything in their power to inhibit the markets from working. Now, all of a sudden, they become proponents of free market principles? Were we born yesterday? Not here at Sense on Cents.

I have continually harangued our Washington politicos for not allowing the housing market to clear, and highlighted how forestalling that process would only prolong our economic pain. We’re feeling that pain now and will be for the foreseeable future.

2. Where are we going with this moratorium? (more…)

Caroline Herron’s Lawsuit Targets Fannie Mae’s Mismanagement of Mortgage Modification Program

Posted by Larry Doyle on August 11th, 2010 7:17 AM |

Have executives at Fannie Mae worked to benefit their own financial interests versus promoting the well being of American taxpayers and homeowners looking to permanently modify their mortgages? Is Fannie Mae merely a perpetual train wreck or has something even more nefarious gone on inside the halls of our national stepchild?

In recently reviewing The Center for Public Integrity, I was not shocked — but certainly dismayed — to read Whistleblower: Fannie Mae Bungled HAMP Anti-Foreclosure Program,

Fannie Mae executives bungled their stewardship of the federal government’s massive foreclosure-prevention campaign, creating a bureaucratic muddle characterized by “mismanagement and gross waste of public funds,” according to a whistleblower lawsuit by a former Fannie Mae executive and consultant. (more…)

Fraudulent ‘Flopping’ of Homes

Posted by Larry Doyle on June 10th, 2010 11:21 AM |

As day follows night, financial fraud follows economic distress. God forbid people try to make an honest living as opposed to seizing opportunities to make a dishonest buck. This financial artifice is on display in the short sales of homes throughout our country.

Bloomberg highlights this fraudulent activity in reporting, Banks Face Short-Sale Fraud as Home ‘Flopping’ Schemes Spread:

Two Connecticut real estate agents found a way to profit in the U.S. housing bust: Buy low, sell fast. Their tactic was also illegal. (more…)

Rep. Jen Hensarling (R-TX): “You Are a Sucker”

Posted by Larry Doyle on April 14th, 2010 10:10 AM |

Charity is one thing. Throwing good money after bad is an entirely different can of worms.

Is the Obama administration’s housing policy trying to be charitable in support of those who have truly fallen on hard times and need government assistance, or is it more redistributing wealth to those who made unwise financial decisions from the outset? Do Obama and team know the difference? (more…)

Gaming Uncle Sam’s Mortgage Modification Program

Posted by Larry Doyle on March 31st, 2010 11:08 AM |

A new release by the SIGTARP (Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program) is exceptionally enlightening in detailing how a likely significant percentage of those homeowners who entered the trial mortgage modification process gamed the system.

Once again, major high five to our friends at 12th Street Capital for sharing this report and providing insightful commentary. As 12th Street points out this morning:

With all of the hoopla surrounding the government and Bank of America announcements to push principal forgiveness to the top of the waterfall for mortgage modification triage, it would have been easy to miss the latest report from the SIGTARP (Special Inspector General of TARP). I have attached the report here and would encourage you to print it out and read it. (more…)

Moody’s Sees Foreclosure Bubble

Posted by senseoncents on February 26th, 2010 10:57 AM |

Great minds think alike. On the heels of my initial morning commentary regarding my belief that housing will remain under pressure, my friends at 12th Street Capital shared a recently released report from Moody’s on the residential mortgage market.

What does Moody’s see? A foreclosure bubble. Ouch!!

Moody’s writes:

HAMP, Moratoriums, and Court Delays Expand Foreclosure Bubble: >>>>> (more…)






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